Photographs and stories of the legendary hostess’s extravagant parties and glamorous guests in the final months before the Nazis invaded France. The American decorator Elsie de Wolfe was the international set’s preeminent hostess in Paris during the interwar years. She had a legendary villa in Versailles, where in the late 1930s she held two fabulous parties—her Circus Balls—that marked the end of the social scene that her friend Cole Porter perfectly captured in his songs, as the clouds of war swept through Europe. Charlie Scheips tells the story of these parties using a wealth of previously unpublished photographs and introducing a large cast of aristocrats, beauties, politicians, fashion designers, movie stars, moguls, artists, caterers, florists, party planners, and decorators. A landmark work of social history and a poignant vision of a vanished world, Scheips’s book “culminates with de Wolfe’s final grand fête, the second Circus Ball, which defined the glamour and decadence of international society before the lights went out all over Europe” (Gotham magazine).

A witty and charming account of the wildly entertaining Elsie de Wolfe in 1950s Hollywood, recounted by her dear friend, the beloved creator of Madeline Ludwig Bemelmans’ charming intergenerational friendship with the late-in-life “First Lady of Interior Decoration” provides an enormously enjoyable nostalgia trip to the sun-soaked glamour of Los Angeles, where de Wolfe surrounded herself with classic movie stars and a luminous parade of life's oddities. With hilarity and mischief that de Wolfe would no doubt approve, To the One I Love the Best lifts the curtain on 1950s Hollywood--a bygone world of extravagance and eccentricity, where the parties are held in circus tents and populated by ravishing movie stars. Bemelmans, who was working at MGM, had originally come to the California home of de Wolfe just for cocktails but by the end of the night, he was firmly established as a member of the family: given a bedroom in their sumptuous house, invitations to the most outrageous parties in Hollywood, and the friendship of the larger-than-life woman known to her closest friends simply as 'Mother'. To the One I Love the Best (which refers to de Wolfe’s dog) is a touching tribute to a fabulously funny woman and an American icon. Be pretty if you can, be witty if you must, but be gracious if it kills you. - Elsie de Wolfe

Combines a colorful overview of contemporary interior design with the riveting life and times of the founding mother of the decorating profession. In a fresh format, engagingly written, and chockablock with photographs and color renderings of de Wolfe's own work and of contemporary rooms that echo her ideas, this book presents a stylish view of a truly unique woman. Illustrations.

Delves into the personal life of this American designer known for his fantastic interiors and fabulous parties. It takes the reader beneath the surface, into Duquette's social habits and the intimate circle of his accomplished friends.

Most decorating books focus on one designer; the rest focus on one period, one trend, one room. This book, for the first time, has the big picture: ALL the names everybody must know from the entire 100-year history of interior design. Each designer is profiled and illustrated with three to four photographs of their best work; what we can learn from them--and how they changed decorating forever--is clearly highlighted to catch the eye.

Elsie de Wolfe is a twentieth-century legend and is the mother of modern interior decoration. Her name is familiar to many who practice the art of interior design or who are linked to the fashionable world of tastemaking. She provided appropriate settings for the new rich in the first half of the twentieth century and in the process helped to shape our understanding of what we have come to know as the modern domestic interior. Through the measured re-examination of known materials as well as the review of history-clarifying documents that have been overlooked or underused by previous de Wolfe enthusiasts, Elsie de Wolfe: The Birth of Modern Interior Decoration provides the foundation of a renewed interest in her groundbreaking career, her philosophy of design, and her belief that an atmosphere of beauty could cure a world of ills. This large format, profusely illustrated book covers twenty-nine projects (including Villa Trianon, The Colony Club, Anne Vanderbilt, Anne Morgan, the Duchess of Windsor, and J. Ogden Armour, to name a few) and concludes with a timeline of her works. Written by English decorative arts scholar Penny Sparke and edited by New York Times contributor Mitchell Owens, Elsie de Wolfe: The Birth of Modern Interior Decoration presents the most in-depth look ever into the design aesthetic of this early twentieth-century master decorator. AUTHOR: Penny Sparke is Professor of Design History and Pro-Vice Chancellor of Kingston University, London. She is the author of over a dozen books on twentieth-century design. Her best known publications include An Introduction to Design and Design; and, most recently, A Century of Design and A Century of Car Design. She has also curated a number of exhibitions and has broadcast widely on her specialist area. Mitchell Owens is a style and design correspondent for The New York Times, a consulting editor of Elle Decor, and a frequent contributor to Travel + Leisure. Owens was a co-curator of Inside Design Now, the 2003 triennial of the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, and author of twenty-one essays in the exhibition's catalogue. He is also an independent scholar of the history of interior design, with a specialty in American decorators of the early twentieth century. 330 duotone and 14 colour illustrations

Lewis follows the lives of four trailblazing women whose intertwined worlds span a century. Detailed, in-depth portraits highlight Elizabeth Marbury, a pioneer theatrical agent; Elsie de Wolfe, an interior designer; Anne Vanderbilt, a wealthy debutante who worked with the poor and sick; and Anne Morgan, daughter of tycoon J.P. Morgan and early women's advocate.